They claim that the device can drive speakers and multiple headphones, that it can compete with some of the best desktop headphone amplifiers but we're left doubting that it can efficiently drive the HE-6? With its notoriety its a wonder if the HE-6 is more of a bad design than a good one given its requirements but this device should be able to drive it if it can do half of the things it has been claimed it can do.

Will have to wait for someone to open this baby up and see if it can be modded to provide a balanced output, or wait until a next release as its a setback IMO.... you don't buy expensive cables to go with your headphones to only then use the single ended.... and if it sings with single ended it must be able to sing and dance with a balanced output.

I don't think driving the HE-6 is an important quality for the Hugo. It may compete with a lot of desktop headphone amps, but that doesn't say anything about its ability to drive the HE-6, as virtually none of those headphone amps can drive it either.

The HE-6 design is unique, that's for sure, but having heard it well driven I would never call it badly designed.

I'll be able to audition a Hugo sometime soon, will make sure to pack my HE-6 for the occasion.

No need to drive HE-6
But anyone has any workaround for the recessed jacks? I think only for rca out i dont want to buy more cables

I am considering to do some metal work on the chassis on mine (to be). Just make the holes a little bit bigger around the RCA's and the toslink. The toslink input may work if it is just a little bit rounder?

When looking at pictures of Hugo there seems to be enough room to make them at least a little bit bigger. A metal worker should have all the equipment needed to do such a thing.. and I guess that the USB inputs and jacks could be milled out more as well.. I'll just have to take a closer look at the casing when it arrives, and find out what I need to do to with it to make it work with my cables.Edited by nOtEcH - 2/5/14 at 12:40pm

I've finally got around to buying the lightning camera adaptor for my ipad mini. With 24 hours on the adaptor, 100 hours on the usb cable and about 125 hours on the Hugo I'm really enjoying the way it separates the different strands of music and lets me hear so much deeper into the mix. It still hasn't put a foot wrong sonically and works really well when played quietly (with the volume set at red). In absolute terms I'm still missing some low level detail and three dimensionality, but everything is still burning in (especially the adaptor) so I'll need to give it some more time.

The only interconnects I need now are to connect the Hugo to my T-amp (which is very much a secondary system) so I bought some Audioquest Evergreen cables and the RCA plugs do fit (just). One advantage of the portable format is the ability to stick the Hugo in my coat pocket and take it to the shop with me...

Tonyl59 don't suppose you know how the Hugo compares to the Naim DAC-V1? Both same price and stocked at Stone Audio and I was going to buy the Naim but the portability of the Hugo is very appealing. I don't want to sacrifice too much in sound quality for the portability though.

I have not so would be hard to compare. I would say it is not warm but neutral. Not to belabor the point the EMM is something which will deliver warm recordings warm and bright recordings bright. To that the Hugo cannot match the EMM. But that is a tough bar to match not many dacs can do this. IMHO not even the light harmonic da Vinci.
So does his mean Hugo is slightly warmer than EMM perhaps but it's harder to pin down the EMM almost depends on your recordings.

Yes, I have heard light harmonic and others as well. Other than tonal purity, I think the DAC2X is just more effortless in its presentation. The Chord QBD76DSD sounds more warm to me, in a sense that it has less energy, thicker sound, and is a little colored IMO - not to the extent of others like say, a Weiss, but still there. In a similar price range, I'd consider the berkeley more neutral, but I like the Chord more for other reasons - e.g. the way it renders the flow of the music, and bass performance.

Probably not identical to the Hugo, but it sounds like there are some similarities. Overall, sounds like the Hugo is still very promising. Thanks for the impressions.

Hi all, question on the Hugo amp. Since the DAC is the strong element, would any existing PORTABLE amp be an upgrade vs. the onboard amp? I am thinking of the best portable amps such as Portaphile 627, Vorzamp Pure II, RSA-71b, Wagnus, etc...

Hi all, question on the Hugo amp. Since the DAC is the strong element, would any existing PORTABLE amp be an upgrade vs. the onboard amp? I am thinking of the best portable amps such as Portaphile 627, Vorzamp Pure II, RSA-71b, Wagnus, etc...

Thinking the same thing here. fiio X5 coax out->hugo->totl portable amp->ciem would be a hell of a rig

Hi all, question on the Hugo amp. Since the DAC is the strong element, would any existing PORTABLE amp be an upgrade vs. the onboard amp? I am thinking of the best portable amps such as Portaphile 627, Vorzamp Pure II, RSA-71b, Wagnus, etc...

I dare say this has been posted before, but I can't keep track of all the different Hugo threads, so, just for anyone who hasn't yet seen this:

Like some fellow Head-fiers, I disagree about the rationale for the placement of the volume control, as it poses potential problems in stacked set-ups, but, other than that, it is really very impressive, how many technicalities were taken into consideration during the design of the Hugo. I can't wait to hear one!